Irish Swim to State

The O’Dea Fighting Irish earn their spot in the state championship meet this year after a succesful regular season. Though the team appears to be young, sophomore Nick Behrens goes over what needs to happen this post season and how it will help the team moving forward.

The Irish had a slow start to the season, which included a loss in their first meet against Bishop Blanchet with a score of 89-95. They also lost their second meet against Lakeside with a score of 56 to 129 but it is bound to happen due to complications with the age of their swimmers.

All four swimmers who have made it to state are underclassmen, which includes Behrens, juniors Jack Skarda, Davis LeClerq, and freshman August Pierce. After getting their jitters out in the first two meets, the Irish turned their season around and finished with three consecutive wins against Garfield, Seattle Prep, and Roosevelt to finish 3-2.

The regular season has now ended, which leads the Irish into their post season with high hopes. They finished 3rd in the Metro League as they head to the state meet this weekend, February 18th and 19th at the King County Aquatic Center.

“We got to focus on swimming right and eating well bewteen now and state this weekend,” Behrens mentioned on what the team needs to do bewteen now and state.

Behrens hopes to finish well this weekend, but he also hopes that this postseason will give their team more experience in the upcoming years. They have a lot of young talent but they will need to get more comfortable in pressure situations if they want to succeed in the upcoming years.

Head Coach Tim Schutte will continue to lead his team and hopes to stretch out their recent success as far as they can. Schutte was inducted in the O’Dea Wall of Honor in 2010 and was named WIAA High School Swimming “State Coach of the Year” in 2000, 2004, and 2011.

The Irish have all the tools they need for a succesful post season; including a high achieving coach and young talented swimmers that will compete for a state championship this weekend.